The Lengths
by DeeDeeBee
Summary: Bella Swan has had a hard life from the beginning, but when she finds stability from her Aunt Esme she begins to focus on shaping a social life at her new school. Highschool is commplicated, stressful and overwhelming.


**Hi everyone! I am a fan-fiction enthusiast but this is my first time writing one so be nice please :)**

**The lengths.**

Chapter 1: Introductions and all

Chapter 1 playlist: Heart of the city-Arkells, Bend and break-Keane, Bitter beauty-Jason Collett, Cigarette eyes- Matt Costa, City of angles-Red hot chilli peppers, A Dark Congregation-Hush sound, Crawling towards the sun- hush sound,

"I think this is going to be great!" Esme exclaims from across the room. We were currently packing up the contents of my room. Every item of mine in the room needed to be packed into boxes before noon so my stuff could be on its way to Seattle, where I will soon to be living with Carlisle and Esme in their new house.

My father and mother divorced before I was one, naturally my mother got custody over me. I rarely ever seen Charlie; for a few weeks in the summer my parents would make arrangements for me to visit, but he was the chief of police in a small town and couldn't take much time off to care for a five year old. He died when I was six in a car accident; he left me with every dime he saved over his lifetime, which surprisingly was plentiful. It's all in a savings account that I don't have access to until I am 18, though my guardians get money monthly from it to support me.

My Mother Renee is an alcoholic/drug addict and has been for as long as I can remember, though she denied it. She was quite talented in hiding her problems from family or any people who would be willing to help her. Part of her success in hiding it would be the fact that we lived far enough away to avoid visits and I would always act along with her. It was very hard as a child to have to be the parent so young and all along desperate for a motherly figure. I was twelve when she was pulled over for reckless driving and was sent to court for driving under the influence, she also was proved an unfit parent. I was originally supposed to go live with a foster family but my grandparents wouldn't allow it. They came down to phoenix where I was living with my mother and took me back with them to Forks. Now I rarely every see or even talk to my mom, but there is always that uncomfortable occasion when she calls.

Forks is the town Charlie was chief of police for and the town my mom and dad both grew up in. My grandparents had a very healthy marriage; my grandmother was 47 when she gave birth to my mothers much younger sister Esme. Six years later my mother gave birth to me when she was 19 just newly married to Charlie. I never seen much of Esme, Renee never made an effort to visit her when I was living with her and when I came to live with my grandparents she was already 18 and anxious to see what else is in the world besides Forks. Like my mother she was a free spirit but instead of devoting every penny and every breath in liquor, she took the smarter way around things. She went to the University of B.C in Vancouver and after graduating she started her world exploration.

I lived with my grandparents for 3 years till I was almost 14, when my grandfather had a heart attack. This was when they discovered a tumour in his heart which triggered the heart attack. They couldn't operate on it and he died within 4 months. It was a hard time for me and my grandma; she was so torn after him passing away that within a month she passed away as well.

Before she died my grandma made arrangements for me to live with her cousin, Charlotte until my Aunty Esme finishes "growing up" as my grandma put it.

Charlotte lives in Jacksonville with her husband Peter. I hate Jacksonville and not only because the climate is humid and disgusting but also because I really dislike Charlotte and Peter. They are obnoxious and rude and honestly I felt a lot like Harry Potter when he had to live with his Uncle and Aunt. No, they didn't force me to sleep under the stairs or anything but it definitely was home. The kids at school hardly made up for this dreadful place. Sure there was the odd bearable student but overall it was torture.

I miss Forks, I miss cloudy weather, I miss my grandparents, and I miss my best friend. The things I left behind in that town were minimal but it made every difference to my happiness. My best friend Alice Brandon was really my only friend in Forks, but we did everything together. I was unable to contact her through my whole time in Jacksonville but I'm hoping to change that when I move to Seattle.

I am quite exited for Seattle; not only will I have stable home, but I also greatly love Esme. She is definitely one of the kindest people in my life, and her husband Carlisle is her equal in every way. I respect them tremendously more than anyone. Esme gave me her word that I will be graduating high school in Seattle. _YAY NO MORE MOVING!!!_

Esme's warm arms wrap around me from behind, taking me out of my thoughts. "Bella, is everything okay dear?" I turn my head to meet her eyes.

"Yeah I'm fine, just a bit tired." In fact I was exhausted; Carlisle and Esme arrived this morning and I was way too exited to move from this place to get much sleep.

"Well it looks like we just have this box to finish filling, then we can go get some food. How does Wendy's sound?" She said shifting to my side to help me finish the box.

"Sounds great," I answered looking up to smile at her.

We stacked the boxes by the door assuring each one was taped and labelled. Esme gave Carlisle the go ahead to load the boxes in the truck so the moving guys could head out along with my lonely travel bag for his car. It was completely unnecessary I only had about five small boxes, hardly enough for a moving truck. But Esme assured me my stuff wouldn't be the only things in the truck; apparently she did a little shopping while in Florida.

* * *

I rested my head against the back of my seat looking out the window. Esme and Carlisle both seemed to understand that I was tired because they didn't try to make conversation with me. I pulled out my best friend and set it on shuffle. I smiled as the Black Keys start playing through the speakers. Car rides or airplane rides are reserved for my old, outdated, silver 2 GB iPod. I have never been more thankful for a gift then my iPod i got in 8th grade. I was a music junky! A true indie music addict. It was definitely my redeemer in Jacksonville. The only thing that made life bearable.

We were finally started moving and lifted in the air shortly after. I closed my eyes and thought about the new opportunities in Seattle for me. My first day of school starts on Tuesday, apparently the school just had a few days off school for a teacher conference or something so it will be a long weekend. Which is good because it is only Thursday and having 4 days to prepare myself for the changes. It will be difficult joining a new school in the middle of February mostly because I am going to be all alone having to find classes in an unfamiliar school.

Esme made a date take me room/ school shopping and I couldn't be less exited. Saying that shopping is one of my less talented things is an understatement. I loathe shopping; sliding on endless pairs of pants, redressing, undressing, it's all torture.

My best friend in Forks use to force me through endless racks of clothes. Awe I love Alice, I have to make a trip down to see her soon. I haven't seen her for so long, much too long. Hmmm that gives me an idea. I pushed the pause button on my iPod and shift my body away from the window to face Esme who was reading a magazine.

" Esme?" she lowered the magazine and lifted her eyes to me. "Do you think when we get to Seattle we can make a quick trip to Forks?"

I mentally cross my fingers. "Yea, I think that is a great idea Bella. I was actually thinking about visiting Forks myself." She put one finger on her chin thoughtfully for a moment before announcing, " So, when the plane lands in Seattle we will go straight to Forks and spend a night there comeback Friday evening, have our shopping day Saturday, then get your room decorated which would bring us to Monday evening for relaxing. How does that sound?"

I smiled at Esmes obsession to have everything planned before put into action. "Sounds great!" I answered immediately. Now quite exited get to Seattle.

Esme smiled back and returned her focus back to her magazine, as I returned my focus back to the music playing.

* * *

"So where does Alice live Bella?" Asked Carlisle, looking at me from the rear-view mirror in his black Mercedes car.

"Uhh, just turn left at the stop sign ahead and her place is the huge corner house on that street." It may have been a while since I've been in Forks, but I will never forget where places are in this small town.

Carlisle did as instructed and I slid to the edge of my seat, seatbelt already unbuckled as the side of the house came in view.

My heart sank when we completely rounded the corner and the disturbing SOLD sign come into view, and a man whom I never seen before stepped out of the house locking the door and headed to a white car in his driveway.

_No No No No_ she couldn't have moved _No_ _No No No _though the sign and the man confirmed it.

"Awe Bells, I'm sorry" Esmes soft voice said, she turned her body around in the front seat to look at me in the back " looks like they moved, I'm sorry I know how much you wanted to see Alice. Maybe when we get back to Seattle you can look her up or email her."Carlisle did a quick u-turn and headed back to the main street, "well," he spoke up "how about the Dinner for supper then we can head back to Seattle?"

"No no, we don't have to go home just because I couldn't see Alice, you guys go and do what you planned"

"Well really Bella the only thing we were going to do here is go to Newton's Sports and Goods Store to get some hiking supplies. You know we were talking about getting outdoors more and having the right equipment might motivate us more. So we can just drop by there and then head back" said Esme again making her event lists.

"Okay sounds good" I agreed

Carlisle pulled up to the store shutting off the car as we all stepped out of the vehicle. Carlisle opened the door as the bells rang signaling costumers. He held the door open for us as I stepped in fist followed by Esme and finally Carlisle.

Two boys stood at the front counters. One with beautiful dark hair and dark russet colored skin he had tremendous body mass and muscles. The other significantly shorter but still fairly tall, he had short blonde hair. They didn't seem like friendly working partners because they both seemed bothered by each other's presents.

They both looked up at the sound of the bell ringing and made immediate eye contact with me, a large smile spread across their faces. Both made action to come around the counter but the blonde boy picked up speed to get ahead. The other boy noticed and stopped in his tracks putting a scowl on his face and returned behind the counter, bringing his head down to what looked like math homework.

"Hey can I help you with anything" he seemed to be talking specifically to me but frequently flickered his eyes behind me to Carlisle and Esme.

"No thank you I think we're just going to browse around for now." Esme answered flashing a kind smile.

"Okay well just call me over if you need any help with anything" he said returning her smile then moving his eyes back to me still smiling he stretches his arm in front of him. "I'm Mike by the way"

I gave a small smile bringing my hand out to shack his "Bella" I simply say before pulling my hand out of his.

"So Bella do you live here?" Mike asked

"Uh, no not anymore, you live here though right?" I returned, hardly curious but just trying to be polite.

"No actually I don't my Aunty and Uncle do though, they own this store and they asked me to help out. I live in Seattle."

"Ahh I see, yea I'm just moving to Seattle"

"Oh really what school are you going to?"

"West Seattle High School, I start on Tuesday"

"Ah nice I go to WSHS , maybe I can show you around and all?"

"That would be great" I smiled again and walked past to go find Esme and Carlisle and from the corner of my eyes I seen that Mike was fallowing behind me. _Gosh this boy is starting to remind me of a dog, a golden retriever possibly._

When I spotted them I noticed that the other boy who was working with Mike, was helping them with hiking boots. I walked up and sat on the bench beside Esme as she was tying up laces to a pair of boots.

"Ahh Bella dear, there you are, good news. Jacob here," she began gesturing to the tall Native helping with her shoes. "goes to school at West Seattle! Isn't this great, at least now you will know someone."

Ha Esme, always so friendly and talkative to everyone she meets. I looked as Esme briefly before looking up to him. "Oh cool so you and Mike go to school together, that's neat that you get to work together as well."

"Mhmm, I have relatives that live just out of town on La Push, were visiting and my cousins get annoying after uhh a day so I decided get out and work for a few days. I worked here during the summer so they didn't have a problem with it."

"Oh La Push, my dad use to take me there for fishing trips, I loved it there." I smiled at the memory.

Jacob smiled at me then looked down at Esme "Does it feel right?" he asked

"Yes Jacob there just great, I think I'll get them"

"Great!" Jacob stated before walking towards the register as we all followed behind.

They paid for their purchases and soon left the store. The night was just making itself known and he headed to the car.

The remainder of the week sped by and I soon found myself getting ready for bed on Monday night. Tomorrow will come quick.

_YIKES _

* * *

**Chapter end**

**Authors Note: Wow long enough first chapter! i know im sorry but i really wanted the first day of school to start on a new chapter.**

**So guys this is my very first fanfiction so im a tad nervous on what you all think. Please review, give be helpful criticism and tell me if you like it!**


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